Countdown from Ten – Speakeasy Petting Zoo

This Pennsylvania instrumental trio delivers some nasty math rock-tinged post-hardcore on their debut EP Speakeasy Petting Zoo. It’s in your face but also in your mind, thanks to interesting riff ideas, time signatures, and song structures. There’s quite a show of proficiency from each instrumentalist here, so strap in and prepare for a good time!

Hexecutor – Poison, Lust and Damnation

What would you say about some blackened thrash metal with a rather old school sound and vocals lifted straight from Adventure Time? The latter trait refers to the high-pitched squeals of frontman “Jey Deflagratör”‘s uncanny resemblance to the cartoon’s character Lemongrab’s own screeches. When you mix up all these attributes, this gives you an astounding debut album from the French band. It’s quick and venomous; a certified headbanger.

Bruit ≤ – Monolith

Bruit ≤ (read “Bruit est inférieur ou égal à…”) is a French cinematic post-rock band made with a surprising array of instruments: violin and cello complement the usual rock trio, to which are also added synthesizers and percussions. All of that is still handled by only four people. On Monolith, you get two quite lengthy tracks that take their sweet time exposing their atmosphere and their intentions, and you just have to let yourself float on their current. It’s a great EP!

Szilárd Mezei Túl a Tiszán Innen Ensemble – Citromfa

This Serbian jazz-folk ensemble is a rather interesting and intriguing one! Citromfa, their latest double-album effort, was released on October 12 via FMR Records. The twelve-piece band is like a small orchestra playing complex yet sometimes minimalistic jazz pieces which are rearranged Hungarian folk songs. Led by violist Szilárd Mezei, this expansive album will take you into their self-made modernist traditional world. It’s unfortunately rather hard to find, but it’s worth it!

Xander Naylor – Transmission

This experimental jazz album is one I was eager to get my hands on, and I wasn’t disappointed. Transmission is full of interesting motives and transformations that demand your full attention. Somewhere between chamber music, jazz fusion, and progressive rock, Xander Naylor strikes the perfect blend on his album. It comes out on the 26th!

Earthmass – Spectral Gate

The Spectral Gate triptych is British psychedelic rockers Earthmass‘s latest release, and it’s quite a fun trip! The whole is one song almost thirty minutes long divided into three parts that range from doom metal to stoner to progressive and to psychedelic and atmospheric moments. The mixing is a bit lower than most other releases, so be sure to raise the volume a little to hear everything in full, but it’s well produced and it sounds great once you adjust to that!

Avast – Mother Culture

Avast is one of the strongest post-black metal bands out there. Their debut EP already struck me, two years ago, as being in good taste, and I can assure you this full-length sequel carries the flame. The gaze factor is still here, too, and that makes Mother Culture a better experience than other albums from more renowned bands of this ilk that came out earlier this year. Out on the 26!

Outre-Tombe – Nécrovortex

Outre-Tombe is a blackened death metal band from Québec, singing in French, and making absolutely disgusting music. Nécrovortex is set to release on the 17th. The album is full of high-energy riffs and tortured vocals. The songs are never so linear as to sound monotonous, they instead keep bringing new material to the table. If you like old school death metal, this might be just for you.